★★★½ (3½ out of 4)
Everyone who knows me knows how much I adore my puppy Lili. So they’re always after me to recommend a movie that treats dogs not as human but as a species far more intuitive and fair. Not for me or them, some sappy tearjerker that reduces pups to Disney clichés of slobbering loyalty, forever trying to please people who like to call themselves master, mistress or owner. “The Friend” is a movie I keep gabbing and writing about because it knows what it’s really like to share your home with a pet. You don’t deserve a dog’s loyalty, you need to earn it.